There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Blistering performances.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Scriptwriter Reg Cribb and director Jeremy Simms have taken the true-life story of Max Bell and put a lens on attitudes about the right to die and aspects of Australian society most of us rarely see.The film, based on Reg Cribb's 2003 stage play, commences in Broken Hill. Rex, a cabbie played by Michael Caton, has a long-standing relationship with Polly his Aboriginal neighbour. Both have somewhat abrasive personalities, but they complement each other perfectly.When Rex is diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer, he learns that the Northern Territory has legalised euthanasia. He decides to leave and drive his cab to Darwin to have an assisted death rather than face a lingering one in hospital.Rex's trip to Darwin is not unlike the journey of the three protagonists in "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", its across roughly the same area and ends up in the same place, but like that earlier film, it's also a journey of discovery. Along the way, Rex becomes involved with a number of people and they change each other's lives.Although the film alters Max Bell's experience considerably, "Last Cab to Darwin" allows for another journey; the one through the divide in Australian society that started in 1788 when the original inhabitants and the European settlers were thrown together.The film seems to reinforce certain stereotypes about Indigenous Australians, especially in the role of Tilly (Mark Coles Smith), however in other ways it shows them as more sharing and less obsessed with material possessions. Tilly's character emerges as a complex one, although brash and cocky on the surface, his underlying fears and self doubts are revealed.The setting for the film is during that brief period in the mid 1990's when euthanasia was legalised in the Northern Territory, but was quickly shut down by federal law. The film doesn't necessarily advocate euthanasia though; both sides of the argument are played out.Finally, the performances are so real that some scenes are hard to watch. Michael Caton gave us a modern Australian icon with his Darryl Kerrigan in "The Castle", but he surpasses himself here.The last scene in "Last Cab to Darwin" is a lump in the throat moment. Maybe the film won't have much of a following outside Australia, but its central theme of the right to die with dignity is universal.

This is the first Australian film in a long time to be built upon a first rate script, beautiful dialogue, absolutely exemplary direction, wonderful cinematography, first class set dressing, and good costuming and casting.Others have reviewed this film, some have praised it, some have called it good, some, alas have canned it as a failure. Too many have analysed the story as sad, even depressing, others have claimed that it is a drama with comedic moments etc.Last Cab to Darwin is a drama, no drama can function well, without the essential comic relief, and this is no exception, but let me say that here is a film that takes no account of contrived entertainment, neither does it preach, or dictate moral terms; Last Cab to Darwin simply tells a story, and stories within that story, via fine direction, one of the best scripts, and some of the finest dialogue ever recorded in this country.The direction is sensitive and well paced, and there is evidence of the actors actually having been directed and shepherded by a director with a real knowledge of the craft and process of acting.Michael Caton is fine as Rex, and he deserves every accolade that has been thrown his way, but having watched his work for more than 35 years, I know that he can at times show a tendency to overplay, especially when the character is driven by deeply felt or complex intent; yet here he is restrained, almost underplaying at times, but always compelling and moving.The support cast is largely divine, some critics have accused Mark Coles Smith of overplaying, this is absolute nonsense from critics who know nothing of good acting or screen work, Mr Coles Smith is wonderful, a kind of indigenous James Dean, whose character of Tilly is at various times frightening, amusing, endearing, wise, foolish, enigmatic, and utterly charming.Ningali Lawford is quite breathtaking, as she drives her character Polly, moving so smoothly from harsh and angry via practical, warm, funny and heartbreaking, to tender, vulnerable and deeply loving.Emma Hamilton keeps a firm controlling hand on her wonderful characterisation of Julie, the UK backpacker and nurse, who takes charge of Rex in his final phase. With only a couple of exceptions, the lesser supporting roles are fine, and for once, directorial attention has been given to even the smallest of roles (I mention this because it is all too often that Australian directors lavish time and screen time only on the leads, and leave the rest of the cast to their own devices) Last Cab to Darwin is a fine film, better than that, it is a masterpiece of theatrical screen production.

A widely recognised characteristic of Australian film is our capacity to find humour in almost any subject. When people from other places try to describe our national character, they use words like larrikin, irreverent, or iconoclastic, meaning we like to laugh at ourselves and the sacred cows in our patch. So how do you laugh at dying, let alone make an Aussie comedy out of a road film that has euthanasia as its destination?Aussie icons Michael Caton and Jackie Weaver provide the larrikin mix of gravitas and humour needed to make a deadly serious issue bearable as we share the journey and the end-of-life issues facing the terminally ill cab driver Rex. He has never been outside Broken Hill and must drive 3,000 kms to Darwin to be the first person who is legally assisted to die by Weaver who plays a feminine version of Dr Death (as euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke was called). Like in all road films, he crosses iconic landscapes and encounters bad things. He also meets some beautiful characters like the Pommie backpacker Julie who becomes his nurse, a mischievous Aboriginal Peter Pan-type called Tilly, and Polly, the Aboriginal neighbour and secret lover he left behind but calls regularly. The back story of our nation's inept relationship with the traditional owners of our land frames much of Rex's journey, just as it continues to frame our evolving national identity.While it is an entertaining Aussie yarn, that's not its only purpose. Superb acting by Caton in particular brings you up close and very personal to the emotional and practical challenges of picking a time and place to die with dignity. The film can get heavy-handed in the way it loads political and moral messages into the story; for example, when Tilly yells at Rex "You think its brave to let someone else do your dying for you?" we are confronted with different ways of looking at assisted dying. Rex makes it to Darwin only to find medical and legal confusion, so things do not turn out as expected. For some, it's a distracting edit to have Rex back home in minutes when it took half the film to get there, but perhaps this reflects the truncation of time when the time has come. Be warned: this is a film that can mess with your head about the complex issue of assisted dying, but it's an Aussie gem well worth the effort.

There was no need for this movie to be two hours long, and I was squirming by the end, couldn't wait for it to be over. 1.5 hours would have been long enough.The film had some nice scenery and that's about it. Other than that it was just a collection of stereotypes.Clichéd white ocker Aussie characters using true blue fair dinkum Aussie lingo.Aboriginal characters speaking pidgin English, kind-hearted blackfellas with drinking problems.Outback pubs, lots of Carlton product placement, the whole movie was shot like a beer ad.Contrived relationship between old white man and aboriginal woman. Was that supposed to be anti-racist? The characters were two-dimensional and unconvincing.This movie was a two-hour cringefest and four stars is the absolute maximum I could give it, and it only gets those because it was relatively well-shot and well-produced, and had some amusing moments.